Curzon poems on Hello Poetry

David Barr Dec 2013

The City of Derby holds her breath amidst the crisis of historical ramblings and talkative expressions of inhibition.
Do not be deceived. Roaches are not mere insects, but are also three-course celebrations of haunting and religious engagements. There are Peaks which lie beyond the stratospheres of Leek.
Although the parameters of yesteryear project their own splendour, let us acknowledge the silver hair which drips with eternal statements of antagonistic adoration in Curzon Street.
Oh, rose of Sharon, in my sheer lack of understanding, I do not invalidate those instructions to depart from Birmingham New Street.
I have deeply immersed myself in Welsh pools of genuine loss, and have found a precious commodity which I had never beheld in former lifetimes.
Furthermore, I lament the loss of such generational integrity.

ross Jun 2018

Somewhere in the Curzon Bar

I thought i had nothing to say
But i decided to stay a million times
And you have a million eyes
And mine are brown sometimes
But sometimes in the right light they look green too
Just like yours
Sometimes I have dreams about you and me
But it’s not the same ones they used to be
I needed you to tell me that you see your future, that you’ll see me later
But I think deep down there was never any future
At least not in this lifetime
And I think I’ve always been Tom and you’ve always been Summer
Or maybe Sid and Nancy
Metaphorically speaking of course but it still hurts just as bad
I think I must’ve died a hundred times
You said you wanted my collar bones
So I gave them to you
Because out of all the things I’ve grown out of
You were never one of them
Sometimes i lie here wondering how you remember me
If you think about the songs that played the way i do
How sometimes Kele Okereke comes on shuffle on the way to the gas station
And i have to go home on empty

Pradip Chattopadhyay Jun 2014

Two Lovers & A City

Let’s be lovers again on the Belvedere
Hand in hand we would climb the stairs
Then fly to the past in our memories’ wings
To that timeless space where duelled Hastings!

Let’s be lovers again in that time spectral
On Victoria’s lawn her memorial
In the autumn’s white blue horizon
Under the bronzed face of Curzon!

Let’s be lovers again in our revived heart
In wind kissed skin on the Prinsep Ghat
See the sun go down on the west bank low
Coloring our eyes in the river’s glow!

Let’s be lovers again in the garden of Kyd
Where under the banyan love poems we read
Take a boat sail to the south upstream
Where the Hugli flows in the Bay’s dream!

Why can’t we be lovers like the olden time
Where landed Charnock in the humid clime
That grew to a city with three villages to start
And etched forever in two lovers’ hearts!

Belvedere House - Alipore, Calcutta, former palace for the Viceroy of India and the Governor General of Bengal, now houses the National Library.
Warren Hastings - first Governor General of Bengal (1772-85), he had wounded Sir Phillip Francis in a duel in the lawn of Belvedere.
Victoria Memorial - built by Lord Curzon, then Viceroy of India to the memory of Queen Victoria (1819-1901), built between 1906-1921.
Prinsep Ghat - built on the riverbank of Hugli in memory of James Prinsep, English scholar, orientalist and antiquary.
Ghat - riverbank
Kyd - Colonel Robert Kyd (1746-93), a British army officer in India who founded the Botanical Garden, Calcutta in 1787. The garden has one of the oldest banyan trees in the world.
Hugli - Hugli river, tributary of the Ganges
Bay - Bay of Bengal
Charnock - Job Charnock (1630-92), administrator of the English East India Company, regarded as the founder of the city of Calcutta starting with three villages Sutanuti, Gobindapur and Kalikata.
p.s. I was born, grew up and loved in Calcutta now known as Kolkata, the City of Joy.

Jay 1988 May 2018

The Story Of Louise

Rose one morning combed my hair
Saw my bride just lay there in our bed
Her face lit by the moon
Kissed her forehead then I left the room
I took my vows and I’ve paid my due’s
Walked in to our baby’s room
She lay sleeping like her mother too
I pulled her to my arms
Sung her songs of kings and lucky charms
Kissed her lips and said I’d be home soon
laced the boots upon my feet
Earth fell from them, turned on the tv
There’s been some tragic news
We’re killing each other will this all end soon?
I take the key and quietly take my leave
Made my way through the thick smoke
Trees are wilting birds begin to choke
I see the chimney stack
That feeds my baby, and clothes her tiny back
The bills get paid but there is little left
Take my stand upon my men
Fire in the furnaces of hell
They raise up from the floor
My head is lined with marks of thick black coal
And I walk home with fire still in my soul
Took a left on Curzon street
Into the pub where naked dancing feet
We’re crossing on the bar
The smell of gin, the taste of coke and ***
And there was Louise sitting on her own
I took her hand and held her tight
We ran together into the stormy night
And found a motel room
Closed the curtains shut out the moon
Across the town I could see my house
To stop, I tried my very best
But she slipped of her dress, off came my vest
Then we had skin to skin
I could feel her heart beat and everything else within
The smell of perfume, whisky, coke and gin
She placed her head against my chest
My hands flowed through her up, then down again
Her lips they tasted so sweet
In this Californian motel heat
Our dance didn’t last that long
We were done before the new birdsong
She lay there next to me
While my bride sleeps next to where I used to be
But there’s nothing better than laying with Louise

Jay 1988 Oct 2017

My Hometown

Strangers fight
Women and children cried
Such a lonely place
Where no one is safe
When i was five years old
I walked up the hill of this town
Sit above the corn fields look over the trees
At my feet chimney stacks and opportunities
Everythings changing in my old hometown
The factories have all been pulled down
Grown men stare with no place to go
So they vanish home
And spend their days wondering what to do

Lovers sit, on the bench tonight
With a bottle of beer in one hand
They embrace each other tight
Faces lit amidst mobile phone light
He texts another behind her back
Isn't modern love sad
The courthouse is now gone
The fast food chain came along
Like crime isn't here but we all need more food
And the jobcentre closed due to lack of room
For all the people who just get along
Driving third hand cars with the radio on
People who work their whole lives are no better off
Than a man with no place to call home
Tell me please, what's going on

All that i see,is lost opportunity
A father walks home with his little daughter
And broken soled shoes at her feet
Past the places where i played don't look like they used to
Boarded up houses on Curzon Street

I don't recognise my old hometown
Sirens wailing around
Grown men walk around with no place to go
Please take me home

— The End —